News
Russia Hands U.S. Investor Calvey 5 1/2-Year Suspended Sentence
A Moscow court has given U.S. investor Michael Calvey a 5 1/2-year suspended sentence, a day after finding him and six co-defendants guilty of embezzlement in a high-profile case followed closely by the international business community.
Even though he will not spend time in prison, Calvey said after the verdict on August 6 that the ruling was "unfortunate and deeply unfair."
"Compared to most cases, receiving a suspended sentence is already almost a victory. But on the other hand, it is simply outrageous to be convicted of a crime that never happened," he said.
Calvey, the founder of Russia-focused private equity group Baring Vostok, was detained along with other executives in early 2019. He spent two months in jail before being placed under house arrest and then released last fall.
Calvey was charged with embezzlement linked to mid-sized lender Vostochny along with his associate Philippe Delpal, who is a French national, and five others -- Russian citizens Vagan Abgaryan, Ivan Zyuzin, Maksim Vladimirov, Aleksei Kordichev, and Aleksandr Tsakunov.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of defrauding Vostochny Bank of 2.5 billion rubles ($32.9 million).
The case went to trial on February 2, almost two years after they were first detained.
Delpal, who spent six months in jail before he was put under house arrest, received a 4 1/2-year suspended sentence. He also insisted he was not guilty of any crime.
Five Russian associates who said they were innocent also received suspended sentences.
Delpal told reporters after the sentencing that it was a "sad" ruling for the whole business community in Russia.
"The court did not want to understand or could not understand that in this case there is no victim or damage and that there is no beneficiary of a potential embezzlement," Delpal added.
Baring Vostok used to be a major shareholder in Vostochny Bank. Defendants in the case claimed it was aimed at pressuring Baring Vostok as part of a business dispute over control of Vostochny Bank.
The case has rattled the investment community and prompted several prominent officials and businessmen to voice concerns about the treatment of the executives.
Baring Vostok has invested more than $2.8 billion in projects in Russia since 1994.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Russian Convicted Over Killing Of Chechen Asylum Seeker In Austria
A court in Austria has sentenced a Russian man to life in prison after he was convicted of murdering a 43-year-old Chechen in a Vienna suburb last year in a case that drew international attention amid claims the killing had been politically motivated.
A spokesman for the regional court in Korneuburg said on August 6 that jurors reached a unanimous verdict in the case during the one-day trial.
The defendant was a 48-year-old ethnic Chechen who wasn't named for privacy reasons, court spokesman Wolfgang Schuster-Kramer said.
The defendant had pleaded not guilty and vowed to appeal when the verdict was delivered, according to the court spokesman.
Members of the Chechen exile community in Austria had suggested that the victim of the July 2020 slaying might have been targeted for criticizing Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
But the court was presented with no concrete evidence proving that the killing was politically motivated, Schuster-Kramer said.
Austrian police have not named the victim, but sources in the Chechen diaspora have told RFE/RL that the victim was Mamikhan Umarov, a Chechen separatist who ran a video blog critical of Kadyrov and worked with Austrian intelligence. He had received asylum in Austria.
Prosecutors said the victim was shot several times, including once in the head from a close distance, shortly after the men met at an industrial estate in Gerasdorf, northeast of Vienna.
Blood from the victim and gunpowder particles were found on the clothing of the defendant.
A defense lawyer blamed the shooting on the victim's bodyguard, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported.
There have been several assaults outside of Russia in recent months on critics of Kadyrov.
In January, a court in Sweden sentenced two Russian citizens from Chechnya to lengthy prison terms for their roles in last year's attempted killing of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, an exiled Chechen blogger and outspoken critic of the North Caucasus region's Moscow-backed leader.
In August 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen separatist fighter who had fled from Georgia to Germany, was shot dead in Berlin. A Russian national suspected in that killing went on trial in Germany in October.
Rights groups have accused Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya since 2007, of numerous human rights abuses, including kidnappings, tortures, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and the targeted killings of political and personal rivals both in Russia and abroad.
He has denied the accusations.
With reporting by AP and AFP
- By RFE/RL
G7 Blames Iran For Attack On Tanker, U.S. Military Reveals 'Evidence' Of Drone Strike
The U.S. military and the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized countries blamed Iran on August 6 for last week's attack on a tanker in international waters off Oman.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said it had collected and examined evidence of a drone strike on the Mercer Street in the Arabian Sea last week that killed one British security guard and the ship's Romanian captain.
"U.S. experts concluded based on the evidence that this UAV was produced in Iran," Central Command said in a statement, using the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicle.
Meanwhile, G7 countries condemned what they called an "unlawful attack" on the vessel, which is managed by a U.K.-based company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.
"All available evidence clearly points to Iran," the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States said in a joint statement.
Following the July 30 attack, first Israel, then the United States and Britain pointed the finger at Tehran and vowed repercussions for such a threat on international shipping.
Tehran has denied any role in the attack.
Central Command, which covers the Middle East, said the Mercer Street was first targeted by two unsuccessful drone attacks on July 29. Investigators found the remnants of at least one of the drones pulled from the water.
A third drone loaded with a "military-grade explosive" hit the pilot house of the ship on July 30, creating a roughly two-meter hole and causing damage to the interior, Central Command said.
Investigators were able to recover part of the wing and internal components from the third drone "which were nearly identical to previously-collected examples from Iranian one-way attack UAVs," also known as kamikaze drones, the U.S. military said.
It said the triangle-shaped Delta wing drones are similar to those “actively used by Iran and their proxies” in the region, including against Saudi Arabia, in a reference to Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, and bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq.
In their statement, G7 foreign ministers said "Iran’s behavior, alongside its support to proxy forces and non-state armed actors, threatens international peace and security."
European countries and the United States added to their accusations at a closed-door Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York on August 6.
"The UK knows that Iran was responsible for this attack. We know it was deliberate and targeted," said British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward.
"The door for diplomacy and dialogue remains open. But if Iran chooses not to take that route, then we would seek to hold Iran to account and apply a cost to that," she told reporters.
Iran's deputy ambassador at the United Nations, Zahra Ershadi, rejected the accusation.
She accused Israel of trying to divert world opinion from its "crimes and inhumane practices in the region," repeating a claim that it had attacked over 10 commercial vessels carrying oil and goods to Syria.
Ershadi was referring to an expansion of a shadow war between Iran and Israel, that in recent months has seen vessels linked to each nation being mysteriously targeted in waters around the Middle East.
On August 5, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gatz said that his country is prepared to strike Iran, ratcheting up rhetoric at a time Tehran is breaching key planks of a 2015 nuclear deal in response to the U.S. exit from the pact.
Tensions have risen in the Middle East since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal with major powers.
The Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on August 6 with Gantz about the ship incident.
Both "expressed concern about Iran's proliferation and employment of one-way attack UAVs across the region and committed to continue cooperating closely on regional security," the Pentagon said in a statement.
"They agreed to work together alongside allies and partners in condemning Iran’s aggression that undermines freedom of navigation, and they exchanged views on next steps," it added.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
EU Meeting To Discuss Surge Of Migrants From Belarus To Lithuania
European Union home affairs ministers will discuss a surge of illegal border crossings from Belarus to EU member state Lithuania at an extraordinary meeting on August 18, the Slovenian EU Presidency said on August 6.
Representatives of the EU border agency Frontex and Europol will also participate in the video conference, according to a letter by Slovenia to EU diplomats seen by Reuters.
"With the situation at the Lithuania-Belarus border, the EU has come under a serious security threat and is a witness of state-sponsored weaponization of illegal migration in Belarus," Reuters quoted the text as saying.
Slovenia pressed for action, saying one aim of the meeting was to agree on measures to safeguard this part of the EU's external border and to continue to support Lithuania.
The European Union summoned the Belarusian envoy in Brussels on August 5 and held talks with the Iraqi government after accusing Belarus of creating a refugee problem in response to EU sanctions.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and other EU officials have also sought a solution with the Iraqi government, which could include a suspension of flights from Baghdad to Minsk.
Lithuanian and European officials say the migrant flows are being orchestrated by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in retaliation for EU sanctions over his government's crackdown on the opposition following Belarus's presidential election nearly a year ago that was widely regarded as fraudulent.
Poland also accused Belarus on August 5 of sending a growing number of migrants over the border in retaliation for Warsaw's decision this week to give refuge to Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya who refused to return home from the Tokyo Olympics.
Based on reporting by Reuters
Siberian Fire Limits Gazprom Exports To Europe
Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom said on August 6 it had slowed gas shipments abroad after fire struck a processing plant in western Siberia.
No one was hurt in the fire, which happened at a facility near Novy Urengoy.
Russian media said transports of natural gas via Belarus and Poland were already decreased to around 1 million cubic meters per day.
Gazprom had already scheduled lower volumes via the Yamal-Europe pipeline that runs from the Yamal Peninsula via Belarus to Germany for the last quarter of 2021.
Authorities and company officials were investigating the cause of the fire, which happened at a gas-processing facility that is already scheduled for replacement.
Based on reporting by dpa
- By RFE/RL
Under Fire From Brussels, Orban Says He Expects Outside 'Interference' In Hungary's 2022 Election
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he is "prepared" for outside "interference," including from the United States, in an election next year that could chip away at the wide majority his ruling Fidesz party currently enjoys in parliament.
In power since 2010 and increasingly fiery in his national populist rhetoric, Orban has faced accusations from Brussels of democratic backsliding, cronyism, and excessive media consolidation to benefit allies.
"That will happen," Orban said in an interview with U.S. Fox News host Tucker Carlson of meddling in the vote. "We are not worried about it. We are prepared for it."
Carlson has been among the most prominent critics in the United States of immigration and has praised Orban amid criticism in the U.S. press that he’s flirting with an authoritarian leader.
Orban has taken a hard line against immigration since a European migrant crisis that saw well over 1 million refugees pour into the continent from conflict zones and other hardship countries.
"Obviously, the international left will do everything that they can do, probably even more, to change the government here in Hungary,” Orban, who describes himself as a defender of traditional Christian values, told Carlson.
The April 2022 election could shape up to be a tight race, with opinion polls showing Orban's Fidesz party neck-and-neck with a coalition of opposition parties.
Orban has led Hungary as prime minister for much of the past two decades, including around its NATO and EU membership. But he has turned increasingly skeptical of the European Union publicly.
Last month, French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders added Orban to its annual list of “enemies of press freedoms."
Freedom House has said Hungry can no longer be considered a democracy due to Orban’s continued assaults on democratic institutions.
During his election campaign last year against Republican incumbent Donald Trump, U.S. President Joe Biden cited Hungary in his criticism of Trump's policies, comparing it to “totalitarian regimes.”
"You see what's happened in everything from Belarus to Poland to Hungary, and the rise of totalitarian regimes in the world.... This president [Trump] embraces all the thugs in the world," Biden said in a town-hall meeting.
Orban had endorsed Trump’s reelection bid, saying his rival Democrats have forced a “moral imperialism.”
Asked if he expects the Biden administration to try to "prevent" his reelection, Orban said that, "sooner or later, the Americans will realize that issues in Hungary must be decided by the Hungarians.”
It is unclear what kind of "interference" he is expecting.
Orban's government has been increasingly friendly with Moscow despite EU and U.S. sanctions over a Ukrainian invasion, alleged assassinations at home and abroad, and what Western intelligence agencies say is frequent meddling in foreign elections.
"It is better even for the leftist liberal government in the U.S. to have a good partner that is conservative, Christian, democratic, and supported long-term by the Hungarian people," Orban told Carlson.
He suggested that shifting policies out of Washington were "creating destabilization and uncertainty."
"A not-loved-but-stable partner is better than an uncertain new one," Orban said. "I hope the Americans will understand that."
Orban said Trump's "America first" policy was "a very positive message here in Central Europe.... It means Hungary could be first as well."
With reporting by AFP and RFE/RL's Hungarian Service
Moldovan Parliament Backs New 'Integrity Government'
CHISINAU -- Lawmakers in Moldova have confirmed the new government of Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita after her Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won snap elections earlier this month.
The Harvard-educated Gavrilita's PAS holds 63 of the 101 seats in parliament in Moldova for what she described as an "integrity government."
Postcommunist Moldova is wedged between Ukraine and EU member Romania, with which it shares a common language.
The PAS had campaigned on a platform of carrying out reforms and tackling corruption, and advocates closer ties with the European Union and the United States.
Gavrilita, a former finance minister, was designated as prime minister by President Maia Sandu.
Before the vote, Gavrilita said "the most important mission is to show that an integrity government is good for the country, and Moldova can return to the list of decent states."
She vowed before the August 6 vote that her government "will not steal, will not divide public money by percentage, and will not protect crooks and bandits."
Sandu defeated her Moscow-backed predecessor Igor Dodon in a presidential election in November and called the July 11 elections in a bid to consolidate power.
"People expect a change for the better and for that we need firm actions and competent decisions that will have the interest of our citizens at heart," Sandu wrote on Facebook.
The incoming government expects to receive 600 million euros ($708 million) between 2022 and 2024 in assistance from the European Union, as well as money from the International Monetary Fund.
The West and Russia are competing for influence in the ex-Soviet republic of 3.5 million people, which is one of Europe's poorest nations and has suffered a sharp economic downturn during the pandemic.
Moldova has been dogged by instability and corruption scandals in recent years, including the disappearance of $1 billion from the banking system.
Kazakh Activist Jailed For Links To Banned DVK Movement Goes On Hunger Strike
NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakh activist Asqar Qaiyrbek has launched a hunger strike to demand a new trial one month after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for organizing activities of the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), a banned opposition group.
Lawyer Gulshat Duisenova told RFE/RL on August 6 that her client has been refusing food and drinking only water since August 1.
She said Qaiyrbek’s health has dramatically worsened.
The warden of the minimum security penal colony in the Kazakh capital where he is being held confirmed to RFE/RL that the activist has been on hunger strike for several days.
The warden, Baghdat Amangeldiev, said the facility's medical staff were ready to provide assistance to Qaiyrbek if needed.
The 44-year-old activist was sentenced on June 21 after a court in the Central Asian nation found him guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist group and taking part in such activities.
Meanwhile in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, a court resumed the trial on August 6 of 13 activists, including four women, also accused of links with the DVK and an associated party, Koshe (Street).
The activists' trial had been adjourned after the defendants and their lawyers accused Judge Ernar Qasymbekov of intentionally switching off microphones when one of the lawyers raised the issue of political prisoners in the country.
All of the defendants were charged with participation in the activities of extremist organizations, while 10 of them were additionally charged with organizing the activities of extremist groups.
Due to coronavirus precautions, the trial is being held online.
Kazakh human rights groups have labeled four of the defendants -- Diana Baimaghambetova, Askhat Zheksebaev, Noyan Rakhymzhanov, and Qairat Qylyshev -- political prisoners.
In recent years, Kazakh courts routinely order prison or parole-like sentences for involvement in the activities of the DVK and the Koshe party, or for taking part in rallies organized by the two groups.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government. Kazakh authorities banned the DVK as an extremist group in 2018.
In early July, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized Kazakh authorities, saying they had targeted at least 135 people across the country with criminal investigations and prosecutions for allegedly participating in banned “extremist” political opposition groups.
Rights groups in Kazakhstan say at least 300 men and women in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic have been convicted for ties to the DVK and Koshe or for taking part in events they organized.
Critics say Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings violates international standards, as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and it prosecutes organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies despite a constitutional guarantee to the right of free assembly.
Kazakh authorities have insisted that there are no political prisoners in the country.
Ufa Woman Learns Midtrial That Her Bank Cards Are Frozen Due To 'Extremist' Label
UFA, Russia -- A woman on trial in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan for allegedly providing financial support to the mother of an opposition activist jailed for extremism has been added to a federal list of extremists despite no ruling yet in her case.
The woman, Ilmira Bikbayeva, pleaded not guilty when her trial began in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, in February.
But Bikbayeva told RFE/RL on August 5 that her bank accounts and credit cards had been frozen without warning and when she inquired was told that her name was on the "extremists" registry.
She is charged with providing funds to the mother of Airat Dilmukhametov, a prominent opposition activist who was sentenced to nine years in prison on extremism charges last year.
Bikbayeva said she had to convince the bank to explain the freeze after her cards stopped working on August 3.
After lengthy discussions, she said, she was allowed limited access to her accounts.
Lawyer Stanislav Seleznyov of the Network Freedoms group told RFE/RL that Russian law allows for adding a person suspected of extremism or terrorism to the registry prior to a conviction and that those individuals can appeal the move.
Bikbayeva said she would consult a lawyer.
The charge against Bikbayeva stems from about 6,000 rubles ($82) that she sent to Dilmukhametov’s mother in several installments between 2018 and 2019.
Investigators say the money Bikbayeva sent was used by Dilmukhametov to conduct extremist activities.
If found guilty, Bikbayeva could face a hefty fine or up to eight years in prison.
Dilmukhametov has insisted that the case against him is politically motivated.
He was arrested in March 2019 and sentenced to nine years in prison after a court found him guilty of calling for the violation of Russia's territorial integrity and making public calls for extremism and support for terrorism.
Dilmukhametov made a video statement in 2018 urging the creation of a "real" federation in Russia with more autonomous rights for ethnic republics and regions.
Jailed Kyrgyz Opposition Leader Ends Hunger Strike Due To Worsening Health
BISHKEK -- The jailed leader of the Kyrgyz opposition party Turan, Jenish Moldokmatov, has reportedly ended his hunger strike at the urging of allies after his health had deteriorated.
An aide and party colleague, Erlan Bekchoro, told RFE/RL that Moldokmatov began to accept food on August 5 after party members, supporters, and representatives of the national ombudsman's office urged him to do so.
Moldokmatov had been taken to a Bishkek hospital 10 days after launching the fast when he was informed on July 26 of an additional charge being levied against him of organizing mass disorder.
He is an outspoken critic of President Sadyr Japarov.
Moldokmatov was arrested in May for the alleged seizure of buildings during anti-government rallies against the official results of parliamentary elections in October.
Moldokmatov has rejected the charge, calling it politically motivated.
He ran for a parliamentary seat in the October vote and participated along with thousands of other Kyrgyz in street protests that followed the official tallies.
The rallies eventually led to the resignations of the government and then-President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
Japarov was among several prominent politicians freed from prison by protesters during the postelection unrest.
He had been serving a 10-year prison sentence for hostage taking during a protest against a mining operation in northeast Kyrgyzstan in October 2013. Japarov maintains his conviction was politically motivated.
Japarov easily won the January presidential election.
Moldokmatov's arrest on May 6 came three days after Japarov signed into law constitutional amendments approved by a nationwide referendum in April that has been criticized by his opponents as a move to concentrate power.
Belarusian Opposition Leader Jailed For Three Months
MINSK -- Belarusian opposition leader Mikalay Kazlou was sentenced to three months in jail on August 6 on charges that he disclosed information related to an official probe into an anti-regime crisis council that sprang up after Alyaksandr Lukashenka's disputed claim to a sixth presidential term one year ago.
The Minsk-based human rights center Vyasna (Spring) cited the verdict, by a court in the capital.
Kazlou heads the United Civil Party (AHP) and is a member of the Coordination Council of Belarusian Opposition (KRBA), which was set up by Lukashenka's opponents after the vote in order to facilitate a peaceful transfer of power.
All of the council's members have been jailed, forced to leave the country, or otherwise targeted for punishment since the unprecedented street protests began, unleashing a fierce crackdown by authorities in the post-Soviet nation of around 9 million people.
Kazlou's trial began on August 3 but details of the charges are unclear because it was held behind closed doors.
Before his arrest in March, Kazlou told RFE/RL that Minsk police had launched a probe against him.
He said they accused him of disclosing data related to an investigation after he was questioned as a witness in a case against other KRBA members who are accused of urging people to seize power illegally.
Kazlou told RFE/RL at the time that he was also accused of refusing to sign a document agreeing not to disclose the details of his interrogation.
Kazlou has led the AHP since 2018.
His party called on Belarusians not to vote for Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994.
Almost 30,000 people have been detained, hundreds more beaten, several killed, and journalists targeted in the yearlong crackdown.
Lukashenka and other senior officials have been targeted by sanctions by the West, where many countries have refused to recognize him as the country's legitimate leader and demanded a fair election.
Wildfires Across North Macedonia Lead To Declaration Of State Of Emergency
Villagers doused flames and hosed down vegetation in an attempt to prevent the spread of wildfires near homes in rural areas around North Macedonia's capital, Skopje. The government declared a state of emergency on August 5 for the next 30 days due to wildfires across the country. People in two villages in the east of the country were evacuated from their homes.
Russian Protester Imprisoned, Fined After Being Found Guilty Of Attack On Police At Pro-Navalny Rally
A court in St. Petersburg has sentenced a man to 4 1/2 years in prison for what prosecutors say was an attack on two police officers during an unsanctioned rally in January to support jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.
The October district court on August 5 found Nikolai Devyaty guilty of punching two police officers during a pro-Navalny rally on January 23. The court also ordered Devyaty to pay a 150,000-ruble (roughly $2,000) fine.
The united press service of St. Petersburg's courts said on Telegram that Devyaty had pleaded guilty.
Russian authorities have tried a number of protesters in a number of dubious cases of such "attacks."
Several individuals have received prison terms or suspended sentences in recent months for allegedly attacking police during the nationwide demonstrations held in January against Navalny's arrest.
Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport on January 17 upon his arrival from Germany, where he was recovering from a poison attack by what several European laboratories concluded was a military-grade chemical nerve agent in Siberia in August.
Navalny has insisted that his poisoning was ordered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the Kremlin has denied.
More than 10,000 supporters of Navalny were detained across Russia during and after the January rallies.
Many of those detained were either fined or given several-day jail terms.
At least 90 were charged with criminal misdeeds, and several have been fired by their employers.
With reporting by Fontanka and Mediazona
Navalny's Brother Gets Suspended Sentence In Latest 'Sanitary' Case
The brother of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny was given a one-year suspended prison sentence after a court in Moscow found him guilty on August 6 of publicly calling for the violation of anti-pandemic restrictions.
Oleg Navalny's lawyer, Nikos Paraskevov, said on Twitter that the Preobrazhensky district court also ruled to impose a one-year probation period on his client.
He is the fourth person convicted in a case that was launched after a group of Navalny's associates was held for calling on people to take part in unsanctioned protests to support the opposition activist in January. They were detained on the eve of the planned rallies.
Hours earlier, the same court ordered Nikolai Lyaskin to serve one year of "freedom limitation," also a parole-like sentence, on the same charges.
The two men were charged along with several other Navalny allies with breaking epidemiological guidelines by urging people to take part in the pro-Navalny rallies.
Lyaskin tweeted on August 6 that the court barred him from leaving home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. or participating in public events. He was also ordered not to leave Moscow for a period of one year.
One of Navalny's closest associates, Lyubov Sobol, was found guilty and given an 18-month parole-like sentence on August 3.
One day earlier, January protest participant Dani Akel was fined 100,000 rubles (almost $1,400) on similar charges.
Other individuals charged in the case include Navalny's brother, Oleg; municipal lawyers Dmitry Baranovsky and Lyusya Shtein; the chief of the Physicians' Alliance NGO, Anastasia Vasilyeva; a leading member of the Pussy Riot protest group, Maria Alyokhina; a coordinator of Navalny's team in Moscow, Oleg Stepanov; and Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh.
Most of them are under house arrest or curfew.
Aleksei Navalny was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent that he says was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has denied any role in the incident, which was the latest of numerous attacks on Navalny.
More than 10,000 people were rounded up during nationwide rallies protesting Navalny's arrest organized in more than 100 Russian towns and cities on January 23 and January 31.
On February 2, Navalny was found guilty of violating the terms of his suspended sentence relating to an embezzlement case that he has called politically motivated.
That ruling sparked new protests that were also forcibly dispersed by police.
More than 1,400 people were detained by police in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities during those demonstrations.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service and Mediazona
Zelenskiy Says Peace 'Depends On Putin,' Suggests Ukrainians Who Feel Russian 'Seek A Place In Russia'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he is doing "everything" he can to end the war with Russia-backed separatists but that peace and control of territory in the so-called Donbas depends "90 percent" on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking in an interview with a Ukrainian TV channel excerpted on August 5, he also said preparations were being made for a meeting with the Russian leader.
Zelenskiy said he "really wants" the conflict to end.
"Unfortunately, not everything depends on me," Zelenskiy said. "I believe and don't hide it at all -- and the president of the Russian Federation knows my opinion -- today 90 percent of success in the return of the Donbas, peace in Ukraine, the de-occupation of our territories, depends on one person."
Kyiv and Moscow have sparred over the site and agenda of a face-to-face presidential meeting.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Putin is prepared to discuss bilateral relations with his Ukrainian counterpart but not the situation in eastern Ukraine.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv have been tense since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and armed Russia-backed separatists ignited a conflict in eastern Ukraine that has left more than 13,200 people dead.
The separatists still control large swaths of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Moscow has consistently denied it is a participant despite overwhelming evidence of direct military and other support for the separatists.
A series of agreements agreed in Minsk to pave a way to end the conflict have gone unfulfilled.
"I have always advocated that the first point of" Minsk and the "essence" of all agreements is a cease-fire, Zelenskiy said.
"You should at least stop firing to talk about something. This is a fact," he added.
The Ukrainian president also said that the "occupied" territories of eastern Ukraine will never be Russian, and he encouraged residents there who consider themselves Russian and the region part of Russia to go and "seek a place in Russia."
- By RFE/RL
Two Belarusian Coaches Stripped Of Accreditation Over Alleged Attempt To Send Sprinter Home
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has revoked the accreditation of two Belarusian coaches over their alleged attempt to force sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya to return home to Belarus from the Tokyo Olympics.
The IOC took the step on August 6 "in the interest of the well-being of the athletes...of Belarus who are still in Tokyo," a statement on Twitter said.
The IOC said the two coaches, identified as Artur Shumak and Yury Maisevich, were asked to leave the Olympic Village immediately and “have done so.”
An IOC disciplinary commission has been set up to clarify the circumstances of Tsimanouskaya’s case and the roles played by Shumak and Maisevich, the IOC said.
“They will be offered an opportunity to be heard,” the IOC statement said.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Tsimanouskaya’s alleged treatment was "unjust" and "not acceptable."
IOC President Thomas Bach described the incident as "deplorable" and said "the disciplinary procedure is not over" with the expulsion of the coaches.
Belarus's national Olympic committee wrote on Telegram on August 5 that it reserves the right to appeal the IOC decision and pledged to protect Belarusian athletes and coaches from "any form of discrimination."
Tsimanouskaya, who is now in Warsaw, said she refused her coaches' instruction to return to her homeland, fearing retribution for statements she made on social media criticizing their decisions.
The 24-year-old arrived in Warsaw late on August 4 under Polish diplomatic protection ahead of an expected asylum request.
She was reunited with her husband, Arsen Zdanevich, on the same day, according to Warsaw-based Belarusian opposition politician Paval Latushko, Reuters reported. Poland has granted the pair humanitarian visas and has pledged to ensure their safety.
Tsimanouskaya told a news conference after her arrival in Warsaw that she was grateful to Poland for its help but she still hoped to return to "free" Belarus one day.
"I will be ready to return to Belarus once it is safe for me to do so," she said.
"I did not betray it; it is my homeland."
Tsimanouskaya said she had never met Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has clamped down on the country since a disputed election one year ago, and had nothing to say about him.
But she said "terrible" things have been happening in Belarus.
As an athlete, however, she said she wanted to focus on the Olympics and not get distracted.
Tsimanouskaya accused Belarusian officials of trying to force her to fly home from Tokyo before she was done competing. She said they had "made it clear that, upon return home, I would definitely face some form of punishment," the Associated Press quoted her as saying after interviewing her before she left Japan.
In Warsaw, she said her grandmother had advised her not to return to Belarus because negative media reports were being aired about her there after her refusal to leave Tokyo.
Tsimanouskaya said on August 5 that she now wants to help Belarusians who are in similar situations.
Tsimanouskaya's plight became a major story from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and refocused international attention on repression in Belarus since protests erupted when Lukashenka claimed victory for a sixth presidential term.
Lukashenka's son Viktar took over leadership of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee recently from his father in a move that the IOC did not recognize.
Other Belarusian athletes, including a former Olympic medalist decathlete and his wife, have reportedly fled life in Belarus since Tsimanouskaya's ordeal began and Ukraine announced a murder investigation when an exiled Lukashenka critic was found dead this week in Kyiv.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Navalny, Wife Describe Extended Visit At Russian Prison Facility
The wife of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has completed a so-called "long visit" with her husband six months into his most recent imprisonment.
Such visits can last up to three days at a special prison facility under the Russian penitentiary system and all inmates are eligible from six months into serving their sentence.
Navalny, who has been in a prison in the town of Pokrov about 100 kilometers east of Moscow for six months, posted a photo on Instagram on August 5 showing him smiling widely as he and his wife, Yulia, embrace.
“We reconstructed a dinner at the dacha. And yesterday I was sitting completely happy, looking at a pan of sorrel borscht (in our family it is a cult) and a pan of fried potatoes,” Navalny said on Instagram.
Yulia Navalnaya, who was allowed to stay for three days, also used Instagram to post a message about the visit.
"I spent some time in prison. So cool!" she wrote, saying her husband, who spent 24-days on a hunger strike in April, appeared skinny, tanned, and smiling when he was brought out to greet her in a prison jumpsuit.
“The beloved man is next to you. You reach out and touch [him], still a little surprised that no one is trying to stop you," Navalnaya wrote.
She described the family meeting facilities at the prison as having "a very decent look of a 2-star hotel," with a couple of rooms, a kitchen, and paintings on the walls.
Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most-vocal critics, is serving 2 1/2 years in jail for parole violations in an embezzlement case he says was trumped up. Navalny's allies accuse the authorities of using the law to crush dissent ahead of Russia’s parliamentary elections in September.
Navalny was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning in August last year that he blames on the Kremlin -- accusations that Russian officials reject.
A Moscow court in February converted a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence on the embezzlement charge to real jail time, saying he broke the terms of the original sentence by leaving Russia for the life-saving treatment he received in Germany.
The court reduced the sentence to just over 2 1/2 years because of time already served in detention.
Yulia Navalnaya said she brought in everything her husband had told her he was missing and said the guards "carefully inspected the borscht," checking for a mobile phone, and cut into items searching for drugs and sniffing drinks for alcohol.
After the three days were over she said her husband was dressed in a robe again and taken away.
She said Navalny, who recently had his ability to communicate with the outside world further curtailed, sends "warmest greetings to everyone."
According to the Federal Penitentiary Service's regulations, Navalny will be eligible for the next "long visit" by relatives in six months, on condition of "good behavior."
In Russia and most of the former Soviet republics, penitentiary administrations have a right to deprive inmates of "long or short visits" as a punishment for violating internal regulations. "A short visit" is a two-hour talk by phone with relatives via a glass window. "Short visits" are allowed two or four times a year, depending on the penitentiary's security level.
Last week, a court rejected Navalny's lawsuit against a decision that bans his lawyers from bringing mobile phones and laptop computers into the penitentiary during visits.
Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, blocked Navalny’s website in a crackdown against media and civil organizations ahead of the elections.
With reporting by Reuters and dpa
North Macedonia Declares State Of Emergency Due To Spread Of Wildfires
The government of North Macedonia declared a state of emergency on August 5 for the next 30 days due to wildfires across the country, including around the capital, Skopje.
Unusually high summer temperatures and strong winds have stoked deadly fires in parts of southeastern Europe, Russia and Turkey, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
The EU commissioner for the environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius, said the fires and extreme weather globally over the summer were a clear signal for the need to address climate change.
"We are fighting some of the worst wildfires we’ve seen in decades. But this summer’s floods, heatwaves and forest fires can become our new normality," he wrote in a tweet.
“We must ask ourselves: Is this the world we want to live in? We need immediate actions for nature before it’s too late.”
The EU Atmosphere Monitoring Service said smoke plumes from the region’s wildfires were clearly visible in satellite images, adding that the estimated intensity of the wildfires in Turkey was at the highest level since records started in 2003.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
U.S. Urges Raisi's Iran To Resume Nuclear Talks 'Soon'
The United States has urged Iran to return to talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal after the new hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, said he would seek a diplomatic way to end sanctions.
"We urge Iran to return to the negotiations soon," U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news briefing on August 5. "For us, this is an urgent priority."
Raisi called for a lifting of the sanctions during his inauguration speech earlier on August 5.
"The sanctions must be lifted,” Raisi said. “We will support any diplomatic plan that supports this goal."
"If President Raisi is genuine in his determination to see the sanctions lifted, well that is precisely what's on the table in Vienna," Price said, referring to indirect talks in the Austrian capital on reviving the nuclear accord which former U.S. President Donald Trump exited in 2018 while reimposing tough sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
"The opportunity to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA won't last forever," Price said, referring to the deal by its formal name: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The talks in Vienna have remained stalled after six rounds.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, said last month that the next round of nuclear talks must wait until Raisi takes office.
The 2015 nuclear deal imposed significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
U.S. President Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the deal if Iran returns to full compliance.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Poland Says Belarus Is Letting Migrants Cross Border In 'Hybrid War' With EU
Poland has accused Belarus of sending a growing number of migrants over the border in retaliation for Warsaw's decision this week to give refuge to Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya who refused to return home from the Tokyo Olympics and arrived in Warsaw overnight under Polish diplomatic protection.
A deputy interior minister, Maciej Wasik, said on August 5 that Minsk was "waging a hybrid war with the European Union with the help of illegal immigrants.”
"There are both young men and women with children. Belarus is using these immigrants as a living weapon," Wasik told online broadcaster Telewizja wPolsce.
"In recent days we have seen an increase [in migrants], we treat it as a reaction to the granting of asylum to the Belarusian sprinter,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from officials in the Belarusian government.
Tsimanouskaya's decision to defect has ratcheted up tensions with Minsk at a time when the European Union has accused President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of using migrants to hit back against EU sanctions.
The EU on August 5 summoned the Belarusian envoy to protest a refugee problem that Minsk has orchestrated in response to EU sanctions.
In recent weeks, neighboring and fellow EU member state Lithuania has reported a surge in illegal border crossings from Belarus and said Minsk was flying in migrants from abroad and dispatching them into the EU.
Lithuanian and European officials say the migrant flows are being orchestrated by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in retaliation for EU sanctions over his government's crackdown on the opposition following Belarus's presidential election nearly a year ago that was widely regarded as fraudulent.
The Polish Border Guard told Reuters it had detained a group of 71 migrants on the border with Belarus during the night from August 4 to August 5 and another group of 62, mostly Iraqis, on August 4.
That is more that the total of 122 illegal migrants the Border Guard said were detained along the frontier in the whole of last year. Last month, 242 migrants were intercepted.
Wasik said migrants arriving recently had mainly been from Iraq, but also from Afghanistan.
With reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Iran 'Secretly' Executes Man Arrested At Age Of 15 In 'Cruel Assault' On Child Rights
Amnesty International says Iran this week executed a man who was 15 at the time of his arrest over a fatal stabbing and spent nearly a decade on death row.
In a statement released on August 4, the London-based rights group said Sajad Sanjari was hanged on August 2 in Dizelabad prison in the western province of Kermanshah.
His family learned of Sanjari’s hanging only after a prison official told them to collect the body, Amnesty said.
"With the secret execution of Sajad Sanjari, the Iranian authorities have yet again demonstrated the utter cruelty of their juvenile justice system," said Diana Eltahawy, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
"The use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime is absolutely prohibited under international law, and constitutes a cruel assault on child rights," she added.
In August 2010, police arrested Sanjari, who was then 15, over the fatal stabbing of a man.
Sanjari said the man had tried to rape him and claimed he had acted in self-defense.
But in 2012 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, Amnesty said.
The conviction and death sentence were initially rejected by the Supreme Court in December 2012 over flaws in the investigation process before being upheld in 2014.
Amnesty International has identified more than 80 individuals across Iran who are currently on death row for crimes that took place when they were children.
The rights group said two other convicted juvenile offenders identified as Hossein Shahbazi and Aman Abdolali are currently at risk of imminent execution. The two were arrested and sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were 17.
Amnesty International said it has recorded the executions of at least 95 youth offenders since January 2005.
Iran is among a handful of countries that execute juvenile offenders.
Rights groups have called on Iranian authorities to urgently amend Article 91 of its 2013 Islamic Penal Code to abolish the death penalty for crimes committed by people under 18 in line with Tehran's international obligations.
Iran is one of the world's leading executioners.
U.S. Investor Calvey, Six Co-Defendants Found Guilty Of Embezzlement By Russian Court
A Moscow court has found U.S. investor Michael Calvey and six co-defendants guilty of embezzlement in a high-profile case followed closely by the international business community.
The verdict should have been announced on August 2 but presiding judge Ana Sokova put it off to August 5 without giving any reason for the postponement.
Calvey, the founder of Russia-focused private equity group Baring Vostok, was detained along with other executives in early 2019 on charges he and the other executives deny.
Calvey was charged with embezzlement linked to mid-sized lender Vostochny along with his associate Philippe Delpal, who is a French national, and five others -- Russian citizens Vagan Abgaryan, Ivan Zyuzin, Maksim Vladimirov, Aleksei Kordichev, and Aleksandr Tsakunov.
The case went to trial on February 2, almost two years after their arrests.
All seven were declared guilty by the court of large-scale embezzlement.
The sentencing is still to come in the proceedings as Judge Sokova reads out the verdict.
In his final testimony, Calvey said on July 19 that he and his co-defendants had acted "solely within the law."
He said he believes the case is aimed at pressuring him and his associates from the Baring Vostok private equity group as part of a business dispute over control of Russia's Vostochny Bank.
The case has rattled the investment community in Russia and internationally and prompted several prominent officials and businessmen to voice concerns about the treatment of the executives.
The charges stem from a long-running dispute between Baring Vostok and Vostochny Bank shareholders.
Baring Vostok owned a 52.5 percent in the bank, and prosecutors accuse the defendants of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($37.5 million) by persuading Vostochny Bank shareholders to approve a share deal at an unrealistically low price.
The prosecution has asked the court to find Calvey guilty and give him a six-year suspended prison term, adding that Delpal should receive a five-year suspended prison. The others, the prosecution said, should be given suspended prison terms of between four and five years.
Initially placed in pretrial detention, Calvey was subsequently put under house arrest instead.
Baring Vostok is one of the largest and oldest private-equity firms operating in Russia. It was founded in the early 1990s and manages more than $3.7 billion in assets. It was an early major investor in Yandex, Russia's dominant search engine.
Calvey is one of several Americans currently being held in Russia on charges they and their supporters say are groundless.
Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years on espionage charges that he has vehemently rejected.
Another former U.S. Marine, Trevor Reed, was sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2020 after a Moscow court found him guilty of assaulting two police officers.
EU Summons Belarus Envoy, Seeks Iraqi Help Over Migrant Crisis At Lithuania's Border
The European Union has summoned Belarus's top diplomat in Brussels and talked to Iraqi officials about suspending that country's flights to Minsk amid accusations that Belarus has "weaponized" migrants to create problems at the bloc's eastern border.
A spokesperson said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, summoned the Belarusian envoy on August 5 to protest a refugee problem that Minsk has orchestrated in response to EU sanctions.
"These practices must stop and Belarus must respect its international commitments in combating irregular migration and human trafficking and migrant smuggling," the unnamed commission spokesman was quoted as saying.
Most of the roughly 4,000 migrants detained by Lithuanian border guards at its frontier with Belarus this year are Iraqis.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and other EU officials are reportedly trying to work with the government in Baghdad to stem the flow of Iraqi nationals even as Minsk has pledged to increase direct flights and add more Iraqi cities.
Speculation has arisen that EU interior ministers might convene a rare mid-July meeting to confront the problem at member Lithuania's lightly protected border.
On August 4, Lithuania dismissed Belarusian allegations that an Iraqi man was beaten and died after being turned away at the Lithuanian border, describing it as “disinformation.”
Lithuanian authorities said this week that they had authorized border guards to start pushing back illegal migrants, including with the use of force if necessary.
Lithuanian and European officials say the migrant flows are being orchestrated by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in retaliation for EU sanctions over his government's crackdown on the opposition following Belarus's presidential election nearly a year ago that was widely regarded as fraudulent.
Based on reporting by Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Israel Threatens 'Military Action' Against Iran As Regional Tensions Mount
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on August 5 that his country is prepared to "take military action against Iran."
Israel, the United States, and Britain have accused Iran of involvement in a July 29 attack in the Gulf of Oman on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime. But no country has provided evidence of its claims.
Iran has denied any involvement in the attack, which the United States and other officials said was carried out by an unmanned drone.
The attack killed one British and one Romanian crewman aboard the Mercer Street.
"We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran," Gantz said. "The world needs to take action against Iran now."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh reacted to Gantz's comments by warning that, in the event of military action, Tehran would retaliate.
"In another brazen violation of Int'l law, Israeli regime now blatantly threatens #Iran with military action.," Khatibzadeh said on Twitter on August 5.
"We state this clearly: ANY foolish act against Iran will be met with a DECISIVE response. Don't test us," he added.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Iran's charge d'affaires in New York called Israel "the main source of instability and insecurity in the Middle East and beyond for more than seven decades."
Tensions have risen in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear deal with major powers trading sanctions relief for checks on sensitive activities.
Israel opposes the current international efforts to revive that deal.
It is also seemingly eager to send a tough message to newly inaugurated Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in Tehran.
Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Lebanon overnight on August 4-5 after rocket attacks from the area in the first aerial bombardment by Israel on Lebanese territory since 2006.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, echoing comments from Britain, said on August 2 that there would be a collective response to the attack on the Mercer Street.
Tehran said it would respond swiftly to any threat to its security.
With reporting by AP
'Glory' Day: Convicted War Criminal Receives Local Honor In Serbia
A former Yugoslav commander convicted of crimes against humanity for ethnic cleansing against Kosovar Albanians has been declared an honorary citizen by a town in southern Serbia.
Vladimir Lazarevic served 10 years in prison for his conviction by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague for deportations and other inhumane treatment of ethnic Albanians as the Yugoslav Army's Pristina Corps commander in the late 1990s.
Officials in Pantalej, one of five municipalities composing the town of Nis, announced Lazarevic's award along with 10 others on an annual "glory" day earlier this week.
It did not cite any basis for the honor.
The tribute was backed by the municipal assembly controlled by the ruling national Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic.
Lazarevic returned to Nis in December 2015 following his release after serving two-thirds of his Hague sentence.
He was personally welcomed by Serbia's then-ministers of defense and justice and the Serbian Army chief of the General Staff at the time, Ljubisa Dikovic.
Current Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin was also among VIPs in attendance.
Lazarevic greeted sympathizers, saying he had been convicted on the multiple counts of war crimes "without any material evidence."
A representative of the NGO Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Ivan Duric, said this month's honor in Nis suggests Serbian institutions have a long way to go to demonstrate the kind of values and reconciliation efforts that could lead to Serbian membership in the European Union.
"I think there is less and less room for the lies and fraud that Serbia is on the European path and on the path of reconciliation," Duric said.
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